A Delicious Italian Dinner

On Monday evening, our friends M & T, who are making their annual visit from Germany, prepared a wonderful Italian dinner for us and friends L & P. I am getting very hungry as I relive that meal.

They brought some of the ingredients from Germany. M is a superb cook and both M & T are gourmets, who appreciate good food and wine. We have dined with them in four countries - the U.S., Italy, France, and Spain. We always have a great time with them and with L & P.

Table decorated with napkins in the colors of the Italian flag


The menu for the evening was:

Appetizers:
- Prosciutto di Parma (one of the best Italian hams) wrapped around Grissini (Italian breadsticks)
- Celery filled with spicy, creamed tuna
- Marinated olives
- Marinated pearl onions
- Ciabatta bread and a cream cheese & chive spread

The Appetizers

First Course
Risotto in red wine. The red wine was a 2008 Santa Cristina Sangiovese produced by Antinori in the Chianti Classico area of Tuscany.

Main Course
Tender morsels of chicken breast and scampi with truffles, asparagus, spring leeks, mushrooms, & capers in a saffron-champagne sauce.

The Main Course



Dessert
Strawberries with sugar & orange zest in a sauce of mild mustard, sugar, and balsamic vinegar. This dish was created by a chef at Don Camillo, one of the oldest Italian restaurants in Berlin.

The Dessert



Wines
- Korbel sparkling rosé brut
- Lugana San Benedetto 2010 from Zenato winery in the Veneto. (M & T, another couple of friends, my wife and I did a wonderful tasting at the Zenato winery in 2004.
- Vitiano Cabernet Sauvignon 2008

Vielen Dank!